994 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
introduced by the Portuguese) is simply the pariah dog of 
India and the East over again, with a look of the dingo 
and the wild dog of Sumatra superadded. It has a foxy 
head, prick ears, a smooth fawn-coloured coat, and a tail 
slightly inclined to be bushy, and is to my thinking a 
very pretty creature They have one admirable point in 
their character in that they never bark, giving vent only, 
when very much moved, to a long wail or howl. ‘Towards 
Europeans they are disposed to be very snappish and 
uncertain, but the attachment between these dogs and 
their African masters is deep and fully reciprocated. They 
are considered very dainty eating by the natives, and are 
indeed such a luxury that by an unwritten law only the 
superior sex—the men—are allowed to partake of roasted 
dog. The cats on the Congo are lean, long-legged, and 
ugly, and offer every diversity and variety of colour. 
Tabbies, however, are the most commonly seen. These 
cats are splendid mousers, or rather ratters, and help to — 
rid the native villages of the small black rats which infest 
them; 
The domestic pig is largely kept, and its flesh much 
eaten by the Congo people. I do not agree with the 
opinion of those who surmise that the pig was originally 
introduced into West Africa and the Congo regions by the 
Portuguese. The pig, in a domestic state, extends among 
the Bantu races right across Africa, and everywhere 
possesses a similar name. The pig in Ki-yansi is called 
“neulu,”’ and in the Ki-swahili of Zanzibar is known as 
“neuruwe,’ or “nguluwe.” It is a black, bristly, high- 
shouldered beast, very like the Irish greyhound pig. Like 
most African domestic animals, it probably had an Asiatic 
origin. 
The fowl on the Congo is small and mongrel-like. Tt. 
is however very productive ; and, as its eggs are rarely i 
eaten by the natives, but are allowed to be hatched by: vq, 
the hen that lays, them, the domestic fowl swarms in 
the villages, and is a never-failing article of ns 
dise. 
The Muscovy duck has penetrated to the Upper CoH 
oe 
4, 
id 
2 
14 
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